Since T-Mobile has carried all previous versions of the flagship Galaxy S, it’s fair to assume that when the next one arrives, we’ll get that one too. We just don’t know exactly when the handset is to be announced or released. But, if the latest roundup of rumors is anything to go by, the S4 (codenamed ‘Altius’ allegedly) will be announced at a Samsung Unpacked event in March, a similar time frame to the last launch which took place in London’s Earls Court Exhibition Center. The device will apprently arrive in stores from around a month later (presumably just the international option to begin with). No precise news on the Tmo variant just yet.

These rumors come from a couple of sources, primarily Asian Economies. The site’s sources within the industry are stating that the S4 will be launched at an Unpacked event in the U.S. in late March (not in the UK). Friday, March 22nd is being highlighted. The only dubious part is the location. There hasn’t been a major Unpacked event in the States since the original Galaxy S launch in 2010.

Secondly, SamMobile (which has relatively good success rate with this things) states that the actual device will land on store shelves in April. It’s rumored that this device will initially come in black and white flavors to begin with (other colors added later). Other specifications include a 2,600 mAh battery and wireless charging. Apart from that, nothing is 100% certain. It could feature a 5″ display, an 8-core processor, 2GB RAM, 13MP camera and Jelly Bean. We’ll find out in the next few months what’s really going down.

As the device is – as yet – non existent, it’d be foolish to go along with everything we read and hear. Take these as they are for now – rumors. That said, if/when the SIV does arrive on our Magenta-colored carrier, it’ll undoubtedly be the flagship model available on Tmo. That is – of course – unless the iPhone arrives before then.

Lastly, this mockup image has been up on Picasa for some time. Could it be the S4?

About Cam Bunton

Cam Bunton, Managing Editor. A film school graduate from the University of Cumbria, UK, Cam's past life was in mobile phone retail. His passion for cell phones got him in to that industry, and then in to this one. A family man with three kids, he somehow manages to balance his work duties with family life and a runaway Twitter addiction. Follow him on twitter: @CamBunton

It’s a dual quad core. Not all 8 cores are working at the same time. It has 4 lower clocked cpus and 4 higher ones, so if the phone doesn’t need that much power the 4 upper cores turns off and the processing is done on the lower cores to save battery.

JBLmobileG1

You’d have to do some serious multitasking to use all 8, that or have an Xbox 360 emulator. LOL Seriously though, I don’t get why we need all these processors in a phone. I guess if it helps with the battery then that’s good, but if it takes 8 processors to achieve this, maybe they should look into a better power source. If anything having a phone with so much inside it will probably cause the price to skyrocket.

Chris

The 4 lower clocked CPUs are used for power saving (mainly – like let’s say you aren’t doing much – just texting at the moment). Then the 4 lower clocked CPUs are active.

If you then play like 3D games (N.O.V.A., Modern Combat, etc.) the 4 higher clocked cores are then turned on and the 4 lower clocked cores are not used.

That sounds totally inefficient to need separate cores when clock frequencies can be dynamically adjusted as well as voltages to suit the needs of the user/apps. Something’s not right with that description given imho. I could only understand if it were 8 true cores and all 8 are possible to be fully functional if needed. Otherwise, as many as possible could sleep until needed (like a certain load placed on already used cores is hit 80%, ect).

thepanttherlady

It would be interesting to see this and the iPhone land within the same time frame. I’m curious in how this one plays out. Gotta love competition!

rotary phone

According to most rumors, the next iPhone to come out will be the 5S which will be likely be released in Aug-Sep. (i.e Q3). Given that it will only be an incremental upgrade over the 5 model and actually released months after the S4 I don’t see much heated competition between the two.

thepanttherlady

According to T-Mobile’s CEO, the iPhone is coming in 3-4 months.

We shall see.

Prod1702

it will most likely be a Quad CPU and the new 8-Core Mali GPU.

Richard Yarrell

Yes sir Mali T658 Gpu will go very nicely with this dual quad Exynos 5 Octa. 28nm chip this will be great. No android 5.0 Key lime pie means i will be waiting for the Galaxy Note 3. I’ve already had 2 jellybean devices in 2012 in the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2. Time for some Key lime pie the Galaxy Note 3 will have it.

You need to switch even if it doesn’t, lol. Sprint services is horrible, and has been for a while.

mingkee

Sprint’s EV simply isn’t working in NYC, WiMax it’s a bit spotty, and LTE doesn’t exist in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

cj

Not interested love Nexus 4.

mingkee

Unfortunately, without memory card support and battery is not removable (I switch battery 1-2 times a day), n4 doesn’t gain my favor.

Prod1702

Buy a battery pack. you can charge the phone multi times a day. There is no need for a Memory Card anyway. With T-Mobiles Unlimited Data you can stream all the music/videos you want. If you need 20 hours of music on your phone you might want to rethink your playlist.

therealmikebrown

Why buy a battery pack? Extra battery is better because you only have your phone in your pocket. If he could sit it down, he could just charge it.
As for sd card, who wants to rely on a signal to listen to music? Besides the battery drain of streaming
Besides 20 albums is not even close. I put it on random and let it flow.

ducter

I don’t know..I know people want one device and all but if music is that important to you step back in time just a bit and buy a mp3 player. My old sandisc takes a micro sd and is about the size of a 50 cent piece, easily lasts a couple days on a charge.

therealmikebrown

Why buy an mp3 player? My phone does that.
Google play musoc is terrible. Why go through my phone set what I want to listen to every week? I’ll just keep all or most of my musIc on me. If I wanted to hook my phone to my compurer all the time I would get an iphone.
I have a 32gb S3 with a 64 gb card. I have movies and music on it. Since phone games suck, I need the movies and music to keep me occupied.

mingkee

I have several of them already and I only use them if I don’t have power access in 24 hours.
Cloud sound like a good idea; however, unfortunately, you can’t get phone service when the subway is in underground, and I have to preserve data from my massive usage.
In addition, removable battery can extend the device’s service life. When the internal battery becomes unserviceable, I just buy a replacement and keep using the device.

Chris

Google Play Music allows you to set an album offline. Do this to the albums that you are in for that day. I only have 16GB SGS3 and I have all my music now in Google Play. I just set them offline if I am listening to that album for a week or so. If I’m done, I delete the cache and set another album offline.

You don’t always need to stream…

Sharklover

Sure stream music if you don’t care what is sounds like and want to drain your battery even faster. I have all my music on my memory card and use poweramp and it sounds amazing. Also its great to just be able to switch batteries. SOunds like you have a phone without these required features.

Noor Mahmoud

How is that a mockup image? I held my note 2 up to my screen and they look exactly the same.

thepanttherlady

Not sure what Note 2 you have but mine shows a different shaped home button (rounder) and the power button on mine is much lower than the picture above. Top is also slightly different with positioning of camera, censors.

Noor Mahmoud

The power button is in exactly the same spot. You can measure this by using the same widget in the same grid coordinates. The only thing you could say is that the home-button is slightly less round.

thepanttherlady

Really? Because the top of my power button is nowhere near the same level as the volume rocker like it shows in this picture.

g2a5b0e

Nowhere near is a bit of an exaggeration. I’m holding mine right now. The level of the bottoms of the buttons line up as opposed to the tops like in the pic. In any event, no one can say that this “mock-up” isn’t extremely similar to a Note 2.

thepanttherlady

I never said they didn’t look similar. I agree.

Your original post asked how this was a mock up because it looks “exactly the same” as a Note 2. I pointed out the differences from a Note 2 giving you the reason why. ;)

rfgenerator

I wouldn’t be surprised if this device does not make it to T-Mobile. Please keep in mind April is the month that T-Mobile has indicated it will remove all subsidies. This phone will come with a MSRP of somewhere between $650 and $800 dollars. Once the subsidies are gone I’m thinking there will be very limited demand for it from T-Mobile customers. IMHO, T-Mobile is destined to be home to a lot of low/midline Android devices. Flagship devices need not apply in T-Mobileland.

Sprite

That’s fine. Hopefully it allows the carrier to get out of the equation. Imagine the nerd following swarming to cheap plans without carrier interference. A “Pure’ Samsung experience, if you will. Removing the carrier from the update process could entice a lot of unhappy customers from other places.

g2a5b0e

You clearly don’t know much about T-Mobile or it’s value plans. “Flagship devices need not apply in T-Mobileland”? I suppose the S3, Note 2, & Nexus 4 which all debuted last year are not flagship devices.

rfgenerator

What T-mobile has gotten in the past will (I believe) be of significant contrast to what they will be offering once the subsidies are finished. Time will tell but I’m fairly confident that the focus of device sales will be on low/mid-level devices. The only thing that might change that, is if theredevelops an actual competitive market for high end devices, but as long as high end devices are only available at an artificially inflated MSRP I don’t think high end devices have much of a place with T-Mobile once the subsidies are terminated.

UMA_Fan

You realize according to T-Mobile themsleves 80% of their current new activations are Value Plans right? Do you also realize their best selling device of all time was the Galaxy S 3???

That means most people on Tmobile are ALREADY buying $600 devices without subsidies. Are you unaware of their installment plan or something?

What 100% no subsidy will probably do is get manufacturers to compete at the full retail price point instead of the bloated subsidized price.

Nick Gonzalez

Excellent point, and I hope what you say in your last paragraph does happen. Maybe thats why we’re hearing these rumblings of a new cheaper iPhone.

Marco

+1^^^^^^

Exactly. I’ve got the S3 on V Plan and will be starting a new line on V Plan and getting a Note 2 full price.

archerian

the monthly installment would most probably remain the same at $20 for flagship devices, but the initial payment would change accordingly to be in the range of $100-$300 (like the SGN2).

pholocity

the CEO came on board and brought the iphone as much as most hates this idea it was needed to bring foot traffic into the stores. Why would they settle for mid-low devices when customer are buying Note2 ($600+) on the installment plan. They want to eat into ATT’s subscriber base so why would they just offer mediocre phones. they’ve already said they’re going to carry the new BB10 that’s not a “cheap” phone

You must have missed the fact that 80% of T-Mobile’s activations are already with no subsidies on the Value Plan. Can’t believe there are still people who think ending subsidies means people have to walk in the store with $650 in hand to buy a phone.

There is a down payment which is the equivalent of the “subsidized price” people were paying on the Classic Plan already and $20 per month is added to the bill in a 20 month installment but since the Value Plans are $20 cheaper than Classic Plans you still come out better with the Value plan because the $20 falls off your bill after you finish paying for the phone.

Eric

You can pay off the phone in monthly installments…

mueller2051

In response to the value plan which I currently do not have, my concern with the new move is as a classic plan holder for over 9 years I receive benefits I will no longer have. Tmobil for instance just gave me the note 2 at no charge thru costumer loyalty. But even thou once they drop the subsidized phone option where are you going to be able to get a phone beside thru tmobil with out paying the full price up front. For instance I received my amaze from costco for 69 dollars back in the day when tmobil want 239 for it. There will be no need for costco or bestbuy or etc to carry a tmobil phone because they will not sell you one with payment under the value plan. This can leave tmobil the opportunity to charge what price they want if you can’t afford a phone flat out and you want there service. Another thing to point out is the tmobil brand will not longer be at these stores leaving people who go to bestbuy to start a line of service not even consider tmobil as a option because there no reasons for a bestbuy employee to mention it.

Chris

When I had my classic plan before, they allowed me to have EIP. But then again, that was 3 years ago and I’ve switched to Value Plan last year.

mueller2051

do you like your value plan better then you did your classic plan? just wondering sound like i going to have no choice. im wondering how there going to upgrade me in late april and agian in sep they just had me sighn new contract when i got note 2 a month ago not to mention convert to new plan

Durandal_1707

Gee, you’ve got a good point there. It’s a real shame they don’t have an option – an installment plan, perhaps – that lets you pay a small down payment and then pay the rest in monthly installments, instead of paying the full price up front. Gee, that would be a nice idea. I wonder why they haven’t thought of that.

OH, WAIT.

MUELLER2051

OH WAIT. good point smart ass thank goodness a genius came along to point that out. gee im sure if you would have stopped long enough from your job as a brain surgeon to read what i said. your comment will still be dumb

ducter

You seem to be counting out family plans. I have 5 phones. if what is speculated holds true T-Mobile will lower my bill by 20, allow me installments of 20×5 added to my bill but also forcing me to unlimited as my 1800 minute plus myfavs with android preferred internet @ 20×5 will no longer be an option…I already spoke with loyalty and was told that for one or two lines it should work out cheaper but they agreed that with family plans it could intact be more expensive but wouldn’t give me any more information.

TYLERDERK

Almost every deal done on T-Mobile is on Value plan (no subsidies) and the best phone selling is the GS3,,,
The Note 2 is also a High end phone that cost around 700.00
and most people have no problem buying it without subsidies.
If you do the math on a 24 month contract you end up paying less then any other way.

mueller2051

yes but how about the example of the nexus 4 costing almost 200 dollars more on tmobil then at the google store. what suggested price will they come up with when they dont have any compotion unless you buy the phone out right.

philyew

Evidence from distributors in Europe, complaining that LG were charging them more for the Nexus 4 than Google were retailing it, indicates that TM isn’t setting its own pricing for the device but is responding to the price being asked of them by LG.

I’ll pass, I’m tired of buying the same device with different specs. Done with doing that…the SGNote II was my last one…sorry Sammy! I’m gonna continue to like and enjoy my Note 2, but I’m ready to look at other options. BB, LG, anyone other than the same looking device. Leaning towards the new BB10 devices more than likely…

street

I feel the sameway I don’t want to do the samething I did with the iPhone and get every model that comes out . 9 months apart lol chews up your wallet and gets outdated fast . Loving my s3

thepanttherlady

I agree. I liked the difference between the S2 and S3 (looks), and the Note 2 for size. If the SIV looks the same as the S3 I don’t see myself being excited for it, no matter the specs. I want something different when I buy a new phone. BB 10 definitely has my eye right now.

mingkee

Actually, if you kept using international SGS variations, you may notice the difference of looking is minimal.
US versions are exceptions.

The iPhone is so surpassed and over rated by followers….. no longer a leading device. If it weren’t for its legion of mundane cult, well plenty of devices outshine it. But with Apple you are buying into a brand, and idea not device

Bajamin

This has been true for the last three iphones, who cares anymore?

Bento

When you sell 50M iphones a quarter, that is a lot of followers. Maybe those people are just smarter than you jc?

Wilma Flintstone

This may be the time when I’ll jump on the Amber Brown S3 or Note 2. Once this S4 shows, prices of the S3 and hopefully Note 2 should drop. Either that or I’ll just pick up something online.

mingkee

Except it has something groundbreaking like LTE advanced, 1080p screen, USB 3.0, it may not be appealing as s3 or note 2.

adam

Doubt it would have an 8 core processor. The GS3 was only dual and it was speedy enough. Will probably take the quad core processor from the GN2 and up the ram. Why would they skip over quad core on the S4 and go straight to 8?

Lord of the phones

I think a big question for T-Mobile will be – when will it feel comfortable enough with its refarm to drop the requirement oh having HSPA in the AWS band on any smartphone it sells and getting devices that have HSPA on the 1900 band with LTE on AWS (but not necessarily HSPA on AWS). That will allow it to have MUCH more flexibility in working with device makers – which would allow them to get handsets faster and probably cheaper (manufacturers won’t have to make what are essentially T-Mobile only devices anymore). Basically any device which has GSM, HSPA and LTE destined to AT&T or Verizon (which sells a lot of GSM capable sets aleady and which will soon be starting to sell devices with AWS LTE in them) would be compatible with its network.

Impatient Waiter

the sooner – the better!!! My phone upgrade was in november and i’ve been waiting for the GS4 since the rumors said it would be out Q1 2013 so I was like…ugh!! fine… I’ll wait…

I switched to Windows Phone from Android and haven’t looked back, but even if I were, the differences in the look and feel as well as the specs aren’t enough to make me want to pay a premium price for it. I think buying a Galaxy device every 2 years is about right.

Looks to be around the same time the iPhone 5 is scheduled to land on T-Mobile. Going to be interesting to see which one sells the most.

A_Ware

Since I can realistically either upgrade my phone or tablet but not both, I’m once again in a quandary about which to upgrade and when…I love my S3 and my 10.1 tablet is the older of the two (and I’m highly unlikely to go for an iphone in any case unless it is just hands down, no argument the best phone TMo has)…so jump on the S4 when it shows up, wait for a new tablet launch, wait to see what is new toward the holiday season…I think I’ll lose my mind now.

Edit: LTE is a big factor too. If the S4 lacks it I’m more likely to wait.

I think it would be fantastical if Samsung made the SIV look different than anything they’ve put out thus far. Not sure how ergonomic that particular shape would be (e.g. how it feels in the hand) but do like the idea of seeing text messages etc. on the side section.

TyRetr0

5 inches is way to big for a phone 4.3 is the hot spot to me.

thepanttherlady

Key words “to me”. ;)

The Big Weiner

The I phone is coming to T Mobile in the first quarter of 2013. Upper Management has disclose it to its employees and RSA’s, RAM’s, and RSM’s are being trained on the phone.

E_meth

8 core processor and a 5″ screen??? No way that takes too much battery if your trying to go thinner

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